The Harker Cum Laude Society’s final speaker of the 2009-10 year was none other than upper school history teacher Ruth Meyer, who shared the story of her journey from Coventry, England, to California to attend Pacifica Graduate Institute to earn her Ph.D. in depth psychology. She said her love of history came as a result of living in an area of historical significance; her birthplace of Coventry contains a cathedral that was ruined during Hitler’s Blitzkrieg of World War II.

Meyer was later admitted to Oxford, where she studied history at Corpus Christi College. She was one of 17 female undergraduates who were the first of their gender to attend the college. Her application to pursue a Ph.D. there was turned down, which led to her fulfilling that goal in the United States. Meyer concluded by discussing the research process for completing her Ph.D. and writing her book “Clio’s Circle: Entering the Imaginal World of Historians,” which examines how dreams can affect the creative process, with a focus on historians’ dreams.